Keshav Rao, known as a ruthless and aggressive military commander, was general secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist)
Raipur: Topmost Maoist leader Nambala Keshav Rao alias Basavaraju was among 27 Naxals, gunned down in an encounter in the Abujhmad jungle in Narayanpur district under south Bastar in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday morning. A district reserve guard (DRG) jawan was killed in the incident, police said.
Keshav Rao, known as a ruthless and aggressive military commander, was general secretary of the banned CPI (Maoist). He played a key role in the 2003 Alipiri blast, which was aimed at assassinating N. Chandrababu Naidu, the then chief minister of united Andhra Pradesh, and he was carrying a Rs.1.5 crore bounty by the government.
"Security forces have achieved a historic success by eliminating the topmost Maoist leader", a senior police officer in Bastar said. This was the first time in the three decades that a general secretary-ranked Maoist was killed in an encounter with security forces.
Acting on specific intelligence inputs about presence of Keshav Rao along with several Central Committee (CC) and Politburo members of the Naxals as well as senior Mad division and people's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) cadres, DRG teams from the districts of Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur, and Kondagaon in south Bastar were dispatched to Abujhmad for operation, a police officer in Bastar said.
DRG is considered a deadly counterinsurgency wing of the Chhattisgarh police. DRG members comprise the surrendered Naxals.
"After reviewing all the facts and information obtained from this crucial operation, which has been going on for several days, it is estimated that several senior -level Maoist cadres have either been killed or seriously injured," the police officer said, unwilling to be quoted.
A DRG jawan was killed and a few other security personnel were injured in the incident, police said. However, all the injured were given medical treatment and out of danger. Details on the operation were still awaited, police said.
This was the second major success achieved by the security forces in the battle against Maoism in the last one month, after the Operation Black Forest carried out in Karregutta Hills range on the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border last month in which 31 Maoists were killed.
In an alleged exchange of fire, 27 Maoists, including Maoist central committee secretary Nambala Keshav Rao, the CPI-Maoist’s magazine ‘Jung’ editor Naveen and Dandakaranya in-charge Madhu and others were killed in the encounter.
Keshav was a native of Kotabommali village of Jiyannapet mandal of Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh. After finishing school education, He shifted to Warangal and joined Regional Engineering College (REC) for engineering course, where he got attracted towards the radical students' union in 1980. Later, he joined the Naxalite Group by taking inspiration from Kondapalli Seetharamaiah.
The security forces identified Keshav, who was actively participating in Maoist activities. A 70-year-old Keshav was clad in uniform with a clean-shaven face.
The Chhattisgarh police also released some of the identified senior Maoist leaders' pictures. Keshav Rao is most wanted for the National Investigation Agency. Keshav Rao also played a key role in the Dantewada ambush, where more than 75 CRPF jawans were killed.
According to sources, security forces have identified some bodies and more than 15 Maoists are yet to be identified. The bodies are being shifted to the nearest police base camp in Narayanpur.
